More Than We Ever Knew
by Reira Serizawa
Summary: Post FMA! Five years have passed and Ed's back! How will everyone react? Will everything go back to normal? And will the military accept Ed back, or will he turn them down now? contains FMA Movie Spoilers


Disclaimer: I don't own Hagane no Renkinjutsushi... sighs

Well, here goes, this is my first FMA. Hopefully it won't suck. This chapter contains a few spoilers of the movie, so if you haven't seen it... Also, the story takes over of course after the series. Sorry if the first chapter is a bit boring, but I just want to get rid of some the major details of Ed and Al's lives without each other. Enjoy!

* * *

_I long to return again_

_To our world of wonders_

_Where you wait for me_

_With your arms open wide_

* * *

Five years later...

_Dear Edward,_

_We are hoping you recieved this letter. Things will be too different without you. Five years have filled us with memories of you to last us a lifetime, but it saddens us to know that they aren't enough to fill us completely. We will miss you deeply... and hope that someday we shall all meet with you again. Don't you dare forget us! Good luck and be safe._

_With Love,_

_Your weird lot_

P.S.: There are pictures of all of us inside!

Edward Elric chuckled after re-reading the letter and placing it back inside it's envelope. It seemed so obvious to him that the letter was written by several people... or at least written by the same person and narrated by various people. The expressions in each sentence were different, but all had the same sad emotion. Edward pulled out the pictures from the yellow envelope. They had images of people he had already known for so long since his childhood, but were completely opposite to them... _My friends..._

_I can't believe that I'm actually going to go back home. I'm happy, but at the same time sad. It's better this way though. I don't belong in this world and Al... he needs me. Sigh... the people here. It's like I've been home all along, but it's not the same. This past five years, I've had to endure the faces of the Rockbells, Mustang, Hawkeye, Armstrong... You name them, I've seen them all in this world. So different. Winry (or Marnela actually) in this world was the daughter of an aristocratic family. The Rockbells were snobs who spent their time meddeling with politic affairs. They had a strong pull here. Strangely enough, this Winry cared nothing for that. Just like the Winry I knew, her parents passed away, but this one was left with her family's fortune. She has no fasination whatsoever for mechanics. Pinako was dead before I came here, so I never met her. Maes Hughes is a police officer. He usually ends up doing small investigations of sorts. His not a nutcase like the Hughes I knew. It took him three years of my time here to propose to the Inn Keeper, Gracia. Roy Mustang is a veteran from the war. He and his wife, Riza Hawkeye, have been having problems in their marriage lately. Even though they married four years ago, she still hasn't been able to bare him children. Mustang would be happy never going back to war and Riza is deathly afraid of guns. Russel and Fletcher Triggham moved two years ago from the neighborhood. Russel is studying to be a Pharmacist. Fletcher plans to follow in his footsteps. Havoc, Sheska, Fury, Farman, Breda, Armstrong, and any other officer I've know are nearby neighbors of mine. Even some people I would have never thought I'd ever see appeared. Shao Tucker, of all people! He, his wife, and Nina... live together in a small mansion happily. A succesful veterinarian, he is. There's also Miss Clara. She's a nurse, just like when I first met her. I'm glad to know she's no thief. No Psiren in this world! And Rose... Ugh... I hate to say it, but I even saw the human versions of the Homunuli and Scar... So many people... Leading lives similar to the ones I know, but with different attitudes... There's one that had me the most surprised... Alphonse... I've been living with him all this time learning Rocket Science. His name is also Alphonse... but Heidirich, not Elric... Imagine that..._

"Are you ok, Ed?" asked a blonde haired young man putting a hand on Ed's shoulder from behind. His green eyes were tired and full of concern. For a moment there, he had startled Elric.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." he said wearly, "Don't worry about me, Alphonse..."

"I just wanted you to know that I'm ready when you are."

"Lets do this! I haven't spent time studying mechanics for nothing."

_Wait for me, Al... I'm coming home... Or at least I hope so..._

* * *

_Come save me from the shadows_

_They plague my lonely heart_

_And the pain you left within me_

_Makes me feel empty inside_

* * *

"Bye, Al! See ya soon! Take care!"

"Bye, Melissa!"

_The Hope of Life Alchemist... That's me, Alphonse Elric. I'm twenty-years old... so I'm told. My body is the one of a 15-year old. I don't have memory of anything that I've been told had happend. Nothing about being a suit of armor, the ordeals I went threw to restore my body, or worst yet, of my older brother, Ed. The last time I remember seeing him, we were attemping to bring mom back. After that, everything is a blank... or at least it's supposed to. To me, I woke up from a nightmare that happend a couple of hours ago, but then it seems that it was longer than I thought. Years had gone by, and I didn't know. I just remember continuing my studies on alchemy and leaving Winry behind to search for my brother. I left with our old mentor. I never would have thought I'd come back empty handed each time I came home. About a year ago, I recieved a letter from a Brigaider General, asking if I wanted to take the Military Alchemy Exam. I was thrilled. No ordinary person was allowed to take Alchemy Exam so young. All the research I could do! I wasn't sure how they got wind of me, but at the moment I didn't care. I spent little time studying. Before I knew it, I had passed the exam, passed the assesment, and turned into a State Alchemist. That's when I learned about my old life, the one with my brother... Brigaider General Roy Mustang was the one that informed me. He was also the one that sent me the letter. Too think that all this time I've known him, he worked for the military. He and his now ex-girlfriend, Riza Hawkeye, who was a First Lt. before, would come visit me home as friends of Winry... I never would have thought he was just coming to check on me..._

_I feel like I've wasted time... My brother disappeared years ago... I went to look for him, but never found him... He's considered dead by many... In all my travels looking for him, I never even met someone that knew him by anything. Then after I find the truth... Or what it appears to be... People come to me, to try and remind me of those times my brother and I helped them or about how they still mourn him. It really confuses me so. Did he really mean so much to these people? Yes, they do. I just don't remember. Many think I have amnesia or that I'm in a shock still. I can tell that the people closest to me miss him the most though. Winry, for example, quit making Auto-mail. When Roy Mustang spoke of my brother after I joined the military, he told me about Ed's Auto-mail. It was obvious to me why she stopped. Pinako fell ill a year after my brother's disappearance. She died a couple of months later. Roy Mustang, I learned, had a reputation to live up to as a womanizer, lazy, and cocky person who only cared about promotions before. After what happend... He changed, he told me himself. There had been a time he had refused to use alchemy again as well. He was ashamed, he said, his alchemy had being disposed of for two years. Promotions meant very little to him now._

"Hey kid, snap out of it!" a man yelled at the daydreaming Al when they bumped into each other.

"Sorry, sir..."

* * *

_Don't leave me alone_

_Like he did before_

_Once a upon a time_

_In this world of struggles_

* * *

_"I'm sorry, but I'm just going to have to let you go."_

_"But why? Wasn't I doing a good job, sir?"_

_"Look, Miss Rockbell, you better stick to what you do best. You can't even handle being a waitress even. I'm sorry..."_

_"Yeah... Thanks..."_

Winry Rockbell, Edward and Alphonse Elric's childhood friend, had been having a hard time finding a decent job. All she truly knew was auto-mail, but auto-mail only brought her sad memories. She didn't want to go back to that.

"Damn it! I have to stop trying to build things at work. This is the," she blonde started to count with her fingers the times she had been fired from a job, "... 12th time!" she sighed running a hand through her hair. Back to the drawing board was what she thought. Might as well go home and think of something else to do. Maybe work as a babysitter... Nah! Al was high maintance by himself. The last thing she needed was a nursery at home.

"Winry! Hey Winry!"

"Huh?" the blonde girl turned to the sound of the voice. "Oh! Hey Al!" she said waving at him.

Dirty blonde hair, somewhat taller than Ed had been, and a bit plump, Alphonse Elric's human transmutation proved to have been a success to the core.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" he cocked his head to the side as he approached her.

"I was fired... What's with the suitcase?" a frown was quick to adorn her face, "Don't tell me you're leaving _again_!"

How could he have expect her not to see the suitcase behind his back? 'What a moron' kept repeating his mind over and over. A groan escaped his lips, "I'm sorry Winry, but I got a call from Central. It is my job you know."

"But can't you take a break? I mean, you just got back from your assesment! Just stay here! Better yet, you _can't _go!" she yelled holding her hips.

"Why not?" completely taken aback by her outburst.

"Look, I'm still your guardian. If you go, _I_ go! You can't keep leaving me here everytime you like. It's not fair to me. Having to worry about you all the time. What if something happens to you, huh? What if no one bothers to tell me? I can't suffer another loss again! I want to be near you incase anything happens. I preffer worrying about your health on a hospital with you than worrying about you at home even more were I have no clue of what you do!" straightning her waitress dress, she huffed and walked making her way home, "C'mon, Al! You're helping me pack!"

Al blinked several time, perplexed, before following her back to the house.

* * *

_Memories are to be treasured_

_Forgetting them_

_Is leaving yourself_

_Alone on the road_

_

* * *

_

_"You will be all right, Edward?"_

_"Yes... I know I will be. Please... Turn it on and don't hesistate anymore! I can't hold out much longer!"_

_"Of course! Be safe! Don't forget!"_

_"I won't!"_

_My world went black afterwards. The Gate's got nothing on me. I **am** going home. I'm coming... Al..._

* * *

Raven: Hope you liked it. Be kind to wannabe authors like me. 

Roy: ...

Ed: pats Umm, when the next chapter?

Raven: I dunno... TT

Ed: twitch It's not going to end up as a Roy/Ed fic... right?

Raven: I like reading Roy/Ed... ¬¬

Roy: snaps fingers and burns Raven

Raven: screams bloody murder

Roy: laughs insanely

Raven: to readers REVIEW! runs away to put fire out


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